


Fairytale of Wildemount

by AngelWithAStory



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Critical Role: Wildemount Campaign (Web Series)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Innuendo, Intimacy, M/M, Snow, kinda christmas fic not really, kinda-established relationship, set sometime in the future i'm not caught up lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 17:03:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17145614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelWithAStory/pseuds/AngelWithAStory
Summary: Each night, Caleb sat on the deck with a copy of the map he had redrawn from memory, a small tattered notebook he had purchased for a few copper coins, a few dancing lights softly swirling around his head and his ink and quill.----Caleb hones his skills, Fjord keeps him company





	Fairytale of Wildemount

**Author's Note:**

> *crushes writers block between my bare hands* anyway,
> 
> the most Stressful Semester Ever is done now, and i haven't updated anything in literal months and it's christmas (technically rn where I live) so if you celebrate it; here's a cute winter fic  
> if you don't: here's a cute fic with snow

This hadn’t meant to happen this way, but then again, when had any of their plans ever gone accordingly.

A few whispers in a new tavern in a new town had turned into a lead. That lead had brought them to a new city, which in turn lead to new whispers and a name. The name lead to an address, which lead to a break-in, naturally.

This break-in had lead to a near-arrest, a close shave and a quick escape in the middle of the night with their small skeleton crew and a (thankfully) restocked kitchen.

That had been over a week ago, and their journey had thankfully been smoother sailing than what had occurred before. They had their destination, and they had their goal. That was enough, for now.

Since they had set sail again, Caleb had found himself with an odd habit. Ever since he’d volunteered to be trained in navigation, he wanted to test himself each night. Caleb was smart - that much was common knowledge - but his thirst for knowledge was rivalled only by the sense of pride when he’d perfected a new skill, a new spell, a new craft.

Each night, Caleb sat on the deck with a copy of the map he had redrawn from memory, a small tattered notebook he had purchased for a few copper coins, a few dancing lights softly swirling around his head and his ink and quill. He had already sketched the relevant stars out of boredom a few nights previous, so now he spent his time matching what constellations he could see with where that would correspond to on the ocean map beside him.

Though he didn’t trust his own skill fully just yet: each morning, he checked where he estimated them to be with where Orly knew they were. And each morning Caleb found his estimation getting closer and closer to where Orly placed them to be.

The air was growing colder with each day as they travelled north, which was perfectly fine with Caleb. He missed the colder temperatures he had grown up with, and he could see how excited Yasha grew each degree the air dropped.

Of course, he couldn’t let himself indulge in the thoughts of home. Those wounds had only just been cleaned, and though it had still stung, he knew at least now they could heal. It would be a long time until those scars had settled, but he knew he was in the best hands possible.

Caleb’s head was bent over the map when he felt something heavy be placed around his shoulders. He startled but the tension left his body as soon as he heard a familiar soft laugh settle beside him. Without thinking too much of it, Caleb shifted to allow Fjord room.

Fjord leaned against the side of the boat behind them and gave himself a few seconds of gazing at the stars before he looked over at Caleb. He had his own blanket wrapped around his shoulders and two mugs in his hands. Silently, Caleb took the offered mug, breathing in the reheated tea he knew Caduceus had brewed earlier that day.

“Is this where you’ve been sneaking out every night?” Fjord asked, a small half-smile on his face as he looked over the map and Caleb’s notes.

“I wouldn’t say I was _sneaking_ ,” Caleb argued, looking into the depth of his warm mug, “especially as it seems I was noticed. What’s been keeping you awake, Fjord?”

“What makes you say that?” Fjord asked, an amused glint in his eye. But it didn’t feel like he was _humouring_ Caleb, it felt like they were both part of a delightful little joke.

“I have been leaving my room fairly late into the night, and my footsteps are not that heavy.” Caleb said. “What’s on your mind, Fjord?”

The silence between them was a comfortable reminder that both men noticed more than the other realised. A gentle truce they both acknowledge and gently poked at every so often to gauge the other’s reaction.

They both sipped their drinks, waiting to see who would carry on the conversation.

Fjord set his mug aside, turning his body ever so slightly towards Caleb’s warm body.

“I’m worried about what’s waiting for us on the other side of this. I’m worried about the Crew. I don’t know what we’re going to find or what it’s going to cost us.” Fjord’s gaze was centred on a distant star that Caleb felt a small thrill when he realised he could identify it.

“Whatever the cost of this adventure,” Caleb said haltingly, chancing a look at Fjord’s profile, “we have all agreed, implicitly or not, to pay it. All of us have had many opportunities to bail and not one of us have taken those opportunities. And though we may look to you as our leader, and as our Captain, the responsibility of the group is not yours to shoulder alone. As you have said before; you check me, I check you, we all check each other. That extends beyond our behaviour.”

Silence followed Caleb’s word like the wake of a ship and he could feel the sea air press against his skin. He glanced over at Fjord again but let his gaze linger for a moment.

Fjord was watching him; that small half-smile softening into something that sent a jolt of electricity through Caleb’s gut.

They’d shared moments like this before: quiet, private moments that they never really brought up around the others. Very rarely, they’d shared a more intimate moment that they kept very carefully underwraps, _especially_ when neither of them wanted to admit just how precious those moments really were.

“Look, I know Beau’s my first mate _but_ ,” Fjord said playfully, shuffling just an inch closer and leaning in towards Caleb, “you’re my co-Captain, you know that right? They look to you as a leader just as much as me.”

“Well that is a lot of responsibility you’re giving me, Fjord.” Caleb said, caught somewhere between playful and a very real fear of not living up to the Caleb in Fjord’s eye.

“I know you can handle it.” Fjord said, “And you’ll have me. We can handle anything.” He said it with such confidence, and Caleb couldn’t help himself from believing it. Especially when Fjord’s fingers began to twine with Caleb’s and he could feel the heat from his palm against his chilled flesh.

“You are a very charming man.” Caleb teased, tilting his head against the wood of the ship, gazing over Fjord’s face like he wanted to memorise it (as if he hadn’t done that a million times in a million other moments).

“Why thank you, Mister Widogast.” Fjord teased.

With a smile, Caleb set aside his (mostly empty) mug. As he turned his head back to look at Fjord, he felt Fjord’s lips press against his cheek.

“You’re cold.” He said, drawing Caleb closer to wrap his arms around his slim waist.

“Then warm me up, _Captain_ _Tusktooth_.” The flirt felt natural in the circumstance but clumsy on his tongue. Still, it had the desired effect if the darkening flush on Fjord’s face was anything to go by.

“I do believe that can be arranged.” Fjord’s voice grew husky and Caleb smiled against his lips as they kissed.

There was nothing _particularly_ breathtaking about the kiss: it was just a soft kiss shared on the deck of the ship. It wasn’t the first, and probably not the last. Yet, even then Caleb could feel his heartbeat race beneath his ribs and the air leave his lungs as Fjord’s hand gripped his hip and pulled him closer with a soft moan that was lost to the wind.

With a surge of bravery that always tugged in Caleb’s gut whenever he felt Fjord’s hand holding him so gently and so securely, Caleb ran his fingers across the side of Fjord’s face. He could feel the unshaven stubble and the slight roughness of sea-weathered skin and the rising pulse from the vein in Fjord’s neck as Caleb’s other hand tugged at his shirt.

These moments were easy. They’d played out these kisses in dozens of ways and Caleb never tired of how Fjord could light a fire in his chest and warm him through to his toes.

All at once, Fjord broke the kiss, letting one hand rest on the deck behind him to steady them both. Caleb frowned, until he felt something cold hit the back of his neck. He reached around and tried to feel what had landed on him, but he only felt moisture against his skin. _Cold_ moisture.

“ _Schnee_?” Caleb muttered, reaching his hand out and letting a few snowflakes fall against his palm.

Beneath him, Fjord shifted their position so they were sat up now, still holding Caleb close. He was watching the sky, frowning at the clouds that had rolled in quickly and unexpectedly. The snowflakes still drifted down, salting his hair.

“Well this is unexpected.” Fjord said.

“We should probably go below deck.” Caleb said, regretfully. There was nothing he wanted less than to move from Fjord’s heat. “Being caught in snow will be pretty bad.”

“Do you still want me to...keep you warm?” Fjord said, waggling his eyebrow and smirking, as if he didn’t become putty in Caleb’s hands whenever they became intimate.

“Well it seems only polite.” Caleb teased, kissing Fjord again softly. Just once, before he began to stand and collect his things.

The snow began to stick to the deck, and continued to fall as the door closed behind the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm now gothic-cepho on tumblr (formally queenmoggy) if you wanna swing by <3


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